The children of hundreds of Vietnamese women, married to Chinese villagers in South China's Guangdong Province, are unable to attend university due to regulations that prevent their families from obtaining a Hukou, or a household registration. Families are in a state of limbo, as their children cannot gain further education or social welfare unless they obtain a hukou.

A hukou can only be issued if the mother of the family is repatriated to Vietnam, and the couple has not violated China's "family planning" policy, which in most cases they have.

It's a dilemma for many families in Deqing county, near Zhaoqing city, Guangdong Province, where around 100 Vietnamese women were smuggled in across the border and sold for marriage to local villagers in the 1990s.

Their children, most of them now in primary school, have been living without a hukou ever since they were born.

Mo Guohua, 58, is a resident in Jiangnan village, which is isolated by mountains. He married his Vietnamese bride, Huang Xin, in 1995 after paying 7,000 yuan ($1,025) to human traffickers.

The couple's oldest son Mo Hailin, age 13, is now learning the truth about his parents' difficult situation.

The Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily reported the family's story recently. "I want to enroll for university Dad, do you think it's possible?" Mo once asked his father. "My classmates said mum is Vietnamese, so I don't have a hukou, so I can't get into university." The father had no answer and could only sigh.

Zhou Songbai, the journalist who interviewed Mo's family, told the Global Times that the problem will become more acute as the children get older.

"The family has four children. Entering high school will not be a problem. But it's almost mission-impossible for them to enter college without a hukou," Zhou said.

Without a hukou, the children are unable to set up social welfare accounts or secure healthcare insurance.

The criteria for obtaining a household registration, according to local policy, requires the bond between father and child to be proved through DNA tests, the Vietnamese wife to be repatriated and the child of the couple to remain in China. Moreover, the couple should not have violated China's family planning policy. Feng Zhirong, a 60-year-old local villager, told the Global Times that families like Mo's would never be able to meet the requirements.

"They usually have three to four children for each family. And most of them have fostered a very good relationship. It's not possible to tear them apart," Feng said.

Li Chunrong, deputy director of the Deqing county publicity department, said the local government is unable to solve the issue.

"The policies should not be applied here. We want to solve this problem as well. But we cannot violate the law and regulations," Li said.

Feng recalls that most of the Vietnamese brides came to the county from 1993 to 1995. Most were brought in and sold by traffickers, although a few came to find a husband by themselves.

Deqing is just one of several counties in western Guangdong and neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where Vietnamese women have established families.

Statistics from the United Nations Children's Fund show that around 22,000 women and children have been trafficked into China from Vietnam in the past 10 years, for forced marriage or other purposes. The Chinese government says it is fighting an ongoing battle against the scourge of trans-national human trafficking.